6L6 to 807 adapters

[Cliff Schecht]

These things sell for $25 a pop on eBay, more than the cost of an 807. Instead of forking over a bunch of money for something so simple, I found a couple of old AMF relays with 8-pin males on the bottom side, ripped out the guts, drilled out the top of the relay plastic to fit the 5-pin sockets and wired everything up. Sounds great with my 5F6A and looks neat, but boy these things are TALL! I've been wanting to make these forever, it just took me a while to find usable 5-pin sockets (and the time). My next set of adapters will probably be for some 6BG6's as these are much shorter and even cheaper than the relatively commonly used 807's.

Also note the plate caps have 10 Ohm resistors with 10 wraps of wire around them to prevent any RF issues with these HF tubes. Cool old ham trick and a detail that the commercial 6L6-807 adapters don't offer.

[FYL]

but boy these things are TALL!

You may try the 807W / 5933 / 5933S / P17W, a compact ruggedized version.

[212Mavguy]

I have a pair of adapters for 6l6/6bg6ga. 6bg6ga is one hell of a secret weapon guitar amp tube...nice sound for little $$. The Sylvania ones sound just like their 6l6gc's. Similar wattage ratings too. I recently got a pair of those on the 'bay, and the cost of the adapters plus the 6bga tubes is less than a pair of vintage Syl 6l6gc's...

[cobalt]

Have you seen this?

http://www.vacuumtubes.com/6BG6.html

Lots more than just this on the website, check it out.


weirddave

[FYL]

The Sylvania ones sound just like their 6l6gc's. Similar wattage ratings too.

They are the same tube based on the 7581A templates and materials, with only the anode connection differing.

[Phil_S]

OK, so now I'm a little confused. I see 7591A and 7027 are both marked as equivalent to KT66, 6L6 or both, depending on the brand. What gives? Anyone know for sure?

[M Fowler]

I like it Cliff that makes for a great conversation piece and fun to watch those tubes glow, good job

[Cliff Schecht]

So are the 19W 6BG6 guys closer to a 6L6ga or real 5881?

[FYL]

OK, so now I'm a little confused. I see 7591A and 7027 are both marked as equivalent to KT66, 6L6 or both, depending on the brand. What gives? Anyone know for sure?

The 7581 - not the 7591 - was sold as the "American KT66" but was much closer to a 6L6Gx construction-wise. The 7027 was a repackaged 6L6Gx (mo' pins), some were fitted with a screen heat sink, most weren't. Just treat them as 6L6Gxs when it comes to max ratings, ie. 7581 = 6L6WGB, 7581A = 6L6GC, GE 7027A = 6L6GC, Sylvania 7027A = 6L6WGB, etc.

The relatively short lived 7591s and 7591As were high-slope derivatives of the 6L6Gx designed for high-fidelity applications, think EL34s when it comes to transconductance.

[FYL]

So are the 19W 6BG6 guys closer to a 6L6ga or real 5881?

I'd say 6BG6s were 807s in octal guise, with a slightly different - and more fragile - screen geometry when compared to 6L6Gxs. 6BG6GAs were basically 6L6GCs.